FAQs - Choosing The Right Archive File Storage

Windows based archive storage:

The first thing to do when considering which type of archive storage is right for you is to decide on the ArchiverFS features that you want to use. ArchiverFS offers a range of powerful features which provide a great deal of control over the archiving process. They include persisted NTFS permissions, replicated directory structures and true seamless links to archived files. However, the archive storage that you choose (and how you preset it to your network) can have a big impact on the features that will work well in your nvironment.

ArchiverFS works best when you host your live and archive file systems on a Windows OS. It could be full Windows server, or it might be an embedded copy of Windows Storage Server, it doesn't matter. As long as the storage is being presented to the network with a Windows OS and is formatted with NTFS you will have the full range for functionality in the software available to you.

This setup could take the form of a lower cost Linux driven NAS being used as an ISCSI\NFS target which is presented to VM on VMWare via a datastore, or it would take the form of a dedicated physical machine with local storage running Windows Storage Server. The details aren't really important, the key factor is that Windows is controlling the storage and it's Windows that is presenting the storage to the network.

We test each and every release of ArchiverFS against a selection of Windows based storage which includes the examples given above.

Amazon Storage Gateway:

The one type of non-Windows storage that we test against is the Amazon Storage Gateway. For those who aren't familiar with the Storage Gateway, it is a virtual appliance that allows you to present Amazon AWS cloud based storage volumes to your local network. In our experience these devices are excellent, they operate without issue and are very reliable. You can find out more about using ArchiverFS with a Storage Gateway in our archiving to the cloud FAQ

When using a Storage Gateway as archive storage it is absolutely imperative that you have a fast low latency internet connection, but as long as you can supply this they are an option that should be considered. The 'killer feature' of a Storage Gateway is that it allows you to seamlessly migrate archived files to the Amazon Glacier storage tier using policies on the Storage Gateway. Glacier can provide storage at such a low $/GB ratio that it can compete with on-premise storage.

Your organization does have to be comfortable using cloud storage if you want to use a Storage Gateway, and there are a lot of businesses that aren't given concerns around security. But if you do want to use one then they can work really well.

Non-Windows OS's for archive storage:

Not all non-Window based storage is created equal, and that can be a problem. ArchiverFS does a lot when it archives files, and even more when it maintains those archived files with the Maintenance Job.

Permissions get syncronized, symbolic links get created and validated, files get verified and all of this has to work reliably. While a lot of non-Windows based storage devices advertise themselves as being 100% NTFS compatible we have found that at least some are actually more like 99.99% compatible, and given the sheer amount of functionality ArchiverFS makes use off that 0.01% can cause a problem.

In our experience these issues tend to affect devices at the cheaper end of the market, and when found normally involve a low cost NAS device running a flavor of Linux that can't be an ISCSI\NFS target and hence has been shared directly to the network. They typically involve issues replicating permissions to the device, or less commonly being the target of incoming symbolic links.

We don't tend to see these issues with mid-range or top tier devices. QNAP and Synology are two manufacturers that have historically performed well, and at the top end we have several customers using Dell Isilon systems without issue.

The takeaway here really has to be that if you are going to use a device at the cheaper end of the market then pick one that can be an ISCSI\NFS target and present it to the network through a Windows VM. If you can't do that and can't look towards the upper end of the storage market then make sure you can return the appliance if it turns out not to actually be 100% NTFS compatible.